Australia Hits Mach 5: The DART AE Hypersonic First Flight

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:04]Earlier this year, somewhere over the Atlantic coast of the United States, an Australian hypersonic aircraft screamed through the upper atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound. It was a moment years in the making and one that places Australia in very select company. The mission was called That's Not a Knife, an unmistakably Australian name for a serious technical achievement. The aircraft was the Dart AE, a 3.5 m autonomous hypersonic demonstrator built by good friends of the Channel Brisbane company, Hypersonics's launch systems. Its successful first flight conducted at the end of February marks a defining moment for Australia's advanced aerospace capability. To be clear about what hypersonic means, that's sustained flight above Mach 5 or roughly 6,000 km per hour at altitude. At these speeds, aerodynamic heating can reach temperatures that destroy most conventional materials. It's an extraordinarily demanding flight regime, which is exactly why developing this capability matters as much as it does.

[00:01:12]DA AE was carried into the upper atmosphere aboard rocket lab's hasty launch vehicle the from Wallops Island, Virginia, then released for its autonomous hypersonic flight. The mission operated under the US defense innovation unit reflecting the strategic importance of this technology for Australia and its allies. During the flight, hypersonics validated propulsion systems, materials, sensors, and guidance systems in real hypersonic conditions. Co-founder Dr. Michael Smart, a former NASA research scientist and one-time chair of hypersonic propulsion at the University of Queensland, was emphatic. at these speeds and temperatures. He said, "There is simply no laboratory substitute for actual flight data." CEO Matt Hill described the mission as confirmation that an Australian company can design, build, and operate technology in one of the most demanding flight regimes on Earth and that the result is operationally relevant for Australia and its allies. The flight follows a $46 million series A funding round backed by Australia's National Reconstruction Fund Corporation, the Queensland Investment Corporation, and International investors, including European defense company SAB. Hypersonics employs more than 50 people at its Brisbane headquarters, just around the corner from Trexone HQ, and is already developing its next platform, Visor, a 6 m reusable hypersonic aircraft. The company's trajectory is pointing sharply upward. Direct from the Trexone studio in Brisbane, this is a talking science daily bite. I'm Matt Miller.